Off the subject of B-movies, recently I rented SHALLOW HAL on DVD just to see if it is good or not. Well, I was disappointed a bit, but otherwise it was not that bad of a film.
The plot: Okay, so this guy named Hal is very shallow (hence the title) and has a hard time picking up girls. Hal has always envisioned the "perfect woman". But, the next few days Hal ends up seeing people from the inside rather than the outside. Basically, Hal sees the beauty in ugly people and the ugly in good looking people. And he falls for a girl that to him looks like a supermodel, but everybody else sees that she is fat. Now the plot that I just gave you is pretty basic. Their is more too it, but for those who are interested I will not spoil it for you have to see it for yourself.
What bothered me about this film? Well, the advertisements for one thing. All the trailers kept on boasting SHALLOW HAL as a comedy! And yet, while it does have a few jokes that don't take up the entire picture, it is surely not a laugh-out-loud fest. More likely, is is just a drama film that has a social commentery on "beauty is only skin deep" with a touch of humor on the side that does not take up the whole film. That and the fact that this is from the Farley Brothers you would expect something on the lines of KINGPIN or THEIR'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY-type humor in SHALLOW HAL. But, it seems that the Farley Brothers decided to make a u-turn in another direction.
The story in general is quite original and has sort of a TWILIGHT ZONE/OUTER LIMITS type theme. Yet, it's all played quite seriously and it works better this way. By treating the whole film as a comedy, you just won't get where the Farley Brothers are trying to tell you. Add a few touching scenes that are a BIG twist to the whole story and some fine performances, then you have a nice film that teaches the whole lesson on the "inner beauty" of people. But, due to the amount of individuals out there who expected a usual Farley Brothers movie were disappointed and SHALLOW HAL was labeled by fans as "The Worst Farley Brothers Movie".
In the end, SHALLOW HAL was good. But, because of the trailers and the hype that claimed it was CADDYSHACK-funny, I was pretty disappointed by those statements. Distributor 20th Century Fox has done it again with their "hey, this film is funny as hell" advertisements like they did with FREDDY GOT FINGERED and DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? when in fact they were not so. But ignore the hype that doesn't exist, and you still have a nice film to go by.
I agree fully. I liked this movie a lot, and I still can't see how anybody that HAS seen this movie can say it makes fun of obese or just plain-old ugly people. If anything, it's saying that yoru personality is what really matters.
Heh, the first time I saw this movie was with my latest ex-girlfriend, who is acually really beautiful. Wonder what she ever saw in a slob like me...
All the best jokes were in the ads. The same goes for Zoolander. And I also agree. This happens far too often: A film seems to be a comedy but it gets so wrapped up in the message (though what message people looking to have a good time laughing want to gleam is questionable) that the last half hour or so is pure melodrama. Even Shakespear was more concerned with the comedic aspects and let the story service the laughs, not vice versa.
I think the movie went overboard in making the fat paltrow different. 1 in 4 people in the U.S. are obese (the rest are just overweight..lol) so someone here size, while big, wouldn't be AS noticed in real life as in the film. (sure, maybe around the mall with teens and stuff) but all the fat gags got old. Chairs breaking all the time, cannonball into the pool sending the kid up in the tree. Just trying to give a warm fuzzy message about how what's inside is what counts when it spends half the film mocking a fat girl. I can see how this might amuse some, but overall I think the film coulda been better and it was just really undesirable.
I have not seen it yet. However, I did just finish writing the rough review for "The NeverEnding Story III" and it has Jack Black as the primary antagonist.
Gads do I hate that movie.